Historically, vice presidents are impotent stand-ins for the president, but in recent administrations, things have changed. Dick Cheney, for example, became the most powerful vice president in history. President Barack Obama delegated actual policy aims to Joe Biden. Mike Pence, however, tries to hide while working behind the scenes to force a far-right socially conservative agenda.
In an Axios piece Sunday, reporter Jonathan Swan explained the ways in which Pence is wielding his power, particularly when it comes to controlling women's health.
Swan specifically cited Pence's influence over Venezuela. He not only traveled through Latin American countries on behalf of the president in the summer of 2017 but he influenced Trump enough to begin the attack on Venezuela. Pence was also responsible for bringing the wife of a Venezuelan political prisoner to Trump's office. The vice president was the one who told "Juan Guaidó, in January, and told him Trump would back him if he declared himself Venezuela's interim president," Swan wrote. The following day, Guaidó did precisely that.
Meanwhile, Pence is eagerly attacking European allies, most recently in the Warsaw speech where he awkwardly paused for an applause that never came.
"He infuriated Turkish officials while working with Trump to secure the release of Pastor Andrew Brunson from a Turkish prison," Swan wrote. Pence also "gave the toughest speech on China by any American leader in recent history, and has worked with key officials, including John Bolton, to shape the administration's China policy."
But it's Latin American that Pence flocks to. Former chief of staff Nick Ayers recalled a trip the two took when Pence was a Congressman where he met refugees in Colombia.
It's unknown why Pence is only willing to speak up for those refugees and not others.
